The body pump offers significant health and aesthetic benefits, but it can also have contraindications.
Attention! Like all other types of physical exercise, it too requires physical fitness for effort and the achievement of a sports medical certificate.
Furthermore, especially for beginners, in the initial conditioning phase the body pump requires a certain "caution" in order to avoid possible injuries.
in the fitness room working out to the music.He patented the business under the name of "body pump" and sold it as a franchise, with choreographies attached.
This was therefore developed by a studio group that made the combinations, chose the music and sent the tracks (at the time, VHS) to buyers all over the world.
However, it must be said that, in Italy, the method did not collect the same success at first. Only later, thanks to the establishment of fitness courses in sports centers and gyms, were the first courses of "Top body pump", "Body pump "," Cardio body pump "" Power body pump "etc.
(1RM) in "the expression of the same gesture is identical, they can express marked differences in bringing a series to failure with the same sub-maximal load".Subsequent analysis tests showed that these differences were determined by the type of muscle fibers of the athletes.
In particular, the subjects who managed to do more repetitions showed a musculature richer in type I or oxidative muscle fibers, highlighting greater resistance to fatigue and low tone (Bisciotti 2000).
Conversely, the other individuals were characterized by type IIx (or more commonly IIb) or glycolytic fibers: great explosiveness, little resistance, good tone.
Note: there is a third type of fiber called IIa, able to specialize in an oxidative or glycolytic sense depending on the training stimulus.
Because of these differences, in order to identify them, the first individuals were named body pumper, while the second pusher.
The meaning of the term body pump refers to a workout that affects and works mainly on type I muscle fibers, therefore oxidative and resistant (red, slow), with "pumping" of the muscles. They fill up with blood (pump effect), cause prolonged exertion, and tend to be depleted of glycogen.
This training therefore leads to a "transient muscle hypertrophy, therefore not due to an increase in contractile protein mass, but to an increase in intracellular fluids, duplication of mitochondria and" increase in enzymatic pools.
It can also be extrapolated that body pumper students will be more successful in body pump because they are more suited to prolonged efforts with sub-maximal loads.
That said, with resistance training, type IIa (intermediate) muscle fibers can still transform into type I; therefore, pusher athletes with higher levels of IIa (we specify, not IIx) have wider margins for improvement even starting from a disadvantaged position (Cometti 1988).
As for the body pump, as with other fitness-related activities, it cannot be assumed that a single body energy metabolism takes over the entire supply of energy. In this group the thing is even more evident, as there is no real working protocol, the methodologies are many, mostly extrapolated from the weight room, adapted to the activity indicated above and of somewhat variable duration.
However, relying on the theories of "Bompa", in the "periodization of" training, referring to a so-called "classic" work - which takes place with a load between 15% (for beginners) and 25% -30% (for more advanced students and athletes) on each muscle group, for a duration of between 4 and 10 minutes, with an obligatory and planned recovery break to change the loads of about 60-90 "" - we can better circumscribe the training in question.
In the first part of the series (set) of repetitions (rep) there is a strong activation of the anaerobic metabolism, with the production and consequent accumulation of lactic acid. This, due to its toxic composition for the organism, causes severe fatigue, both physical and psychological.
By being able to continue the activity, the athletes, thanks to training, begin to tap into the aerobic metabolism. The muscle groups subjected to greater work are those of type I or slow that exploit the oxidative metabolism.
The subsequent increase in strength depends on the work and the slight increase in muscle mass of the intermediate type muscle fibers which also exploit the lactacid type metabolism and are a middle ground between type I and II fibers.
Obviously the dividing lines are somewhat blurred; they greatly depend on the loads used and on the type of sequence and speed with which the repetitions take place.
We also remind you that it is possible to contextualize other training protocols (agonist / antagonist training, circuit training, superset and PHA adapted to the body pump) in the practice of this activity, which represents more than anything else a "general modality".
specific which results in an anaerobic, aerobic and cardiovascular improvement.
The mainly trained athletic capacity is muscular endurance to strength, of medium and long duration, which improves both from the point of view of anaerobic and aerobic endurance.
Carried out systematically, the body pump can have an excellent metabolic impact on glucose tolerance, thanks to the increase in insulin sensitivity and the emptying of muscle glycogen stores.
For those suffering from chronic hyperglycemia, this improves the state of health (glycemic reduction, prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus and lowering of blood triglycerides) and optimizes any weight loss process during the low-calorie diet.
It has also been shown that training with overloads leads to increased post-workout consumption for about fifteen or sixteen hours after the activity - depending on the overall training load (Calcagno 2000).
Given the intensity, however not indifferent, thanks to the use of overloads, the muscle mass is partially preserved from the catabolic wear and tear of the negative caloric balance - but not as much as in the work of hypertrophy.
Cholesterolemia (total reduction and increase in HDL) and eventual primary arterial hypertension also tend to improve, especially in the case of weight loss.
Consequently, the cardiovascular risk is reduced.
From the muscular point of view, there is an "optimization of the capillary network, an increase of intracellular organelles (in particular of the mitochondria that supply ATP" adenosine triphosphate "therefore energy, ready for use) and a better intracellular hydration.
Other noteworthy improvements concern the joints, which benefit from an increased lubrication of the cartilages and a strengthening of the tendons and bones thanks to the work with overloads.
All this leads to undoubted improvements from the functional point of view: a better supply of oxygen to the tissues, a faster disposal of toxic waste and a greater muscular resistance to effort, thanks to the improvement of the quality and composition of skeletal muscles. Greater joint stability leads to lower risk of injuries and joint pain.
From an aesthetic point of view, assuming adequate nutrition, a more athletic appearance, more toned muscles, without major increases in muscle hypertrophy, can be expected.
